


Calloused Hands and Damp Towels

by saltydaridad



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Multi, Sickeningly Sweet Fluff, and succeeds, crime polycule sick days, hes trying his best to be there for everyone, lupin is actually more than he lets on, lupin takes care of the gang, the gang takes care of lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25317532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltydaridad/pseuds/saltydaridad
Summary: " Is he okay? "They open his door to find him passed out on the arm chair near the window, absolutely exhausted and unaware that all three of them were crowded in his room, just watching the rise and fall of his chest as he slept away." . . . Yeah, he'll be okay. "
Relationships: Arsène Lupin III/Mine Fujiko, Ishikawa Goemon XIII/Arsène Lupin III, Ishikawa Goemon XIII/Jigen Daisuke/Arsène Lupin III/Mine Fujiko, Jigen Daisuke/Arsène Lupin III
Comments: 5
Kudos: 73





	Calloused Hands and Damp Towels

**Author's Note:**

> For my friends in the Lupin fandom who need a little fluff to cheer them up, I love you. Thank you for inspiring me to be productive everyday and night.

It all started when Fujiko came around to the safehouse, looking a little bit worse for wear. Jigen had commented on how she looks, and she only huffed, before she sneezes and sidles up to Lupin, practically asking for affection and care. Lupin didn't think much of it at first, and he of course could not deny his lady of her wants and needs, so he wraps an arm around her and leans in with that low rumble of a purr in his voice whenever he's asking Fujiko with low-lidded eyes.

Then he notices how warm she was - more than usual at least.

It was a fever that had been brought about by a cold, that much he knew. Lupin was capable of taking care of her, and Jigen and Goemon were at least cooperative in getting medicine, or buying what was needed outside, while the thief played nurse at the safehouse for his beloved 'Fujicakes.'

Fujiko opted not to stay, saying that she'd rather take care of the fever on her own without needing the boys' help, but Lupin had snapped from wanting her in bed to actually tucking her into bed with a damp towel on her forehead, so she knew he was serious. He'd always been serious when it came to their health, save for the vices that gripped their lungs and livers in an iron fist, and this was no exception. He was at her bedside almost 24/7 - catering to her actual needs of water, food, attention and the most tender of touches.

The closeness and the intimacy was found in the way he brushed away the fiery red hair off her forehead just before he kisses it, placing the towel over her skin with a soft look in his eyes and in his smile as he took care of her. Whenever she needed to be cleaned by sponge bath, he'd of course joke about it being something more, and he'd earn a slap occasionally, but he's careful whenever he washes her - almost as if he'd break her.

"Lupin."

"Yes, my dear Fujiko?"

"I'm not a porcelain doll, you know. You don't have to be so gentle with me."

The words made him stare at her as if she'd said something stupid, and he _laughs_ at her. It was a quiet and gentle laugh, like a shower of rain with the sun still out in a meadow.

"Well, you're not a porcelain doll, and you're not _my_ porcelain doll, yet. But I think getting better will come faster if I'm taking care of you properly, don't you think so, _mon_ _cherie?"_

Fujiko doesn't question his gentleness after that conversation - merely enjoying it as the days passed.

* * *

He doesn't notice the signs of Jigen getting sick at least two days after Fujiko did. Some serious bug in the air, he thought to himself, considering that Fujiko still had a fever for herself, though it was definitely less than when she wandered into the safehouse - it doesn't mean it was over.

He sat Jigen down in the living room, and practically talked to him about what he'd been feeling - the same symptoms his lady had been feeling - headache, fatigue, colds, fever. He stood up in front of him, pushing his hat back and slipping his hand behind the gunslinger's bangs, feeling his forehead temperature with his palm and he shakes his head, withdrawing his hand.

"No good, Jigen. You've probably caught Fujiko's bug, too."

It didn't take long before Lupin had Jigen in bed as well, and he was practically double-timing the nurse duty with Goemon left as his only assistant. Thinking ahead at least, he had asked the samurai to purchase more than the usual dosage, and when asked, he only answers him with a shrug, saying, "I think we'll be needing more than what we need and have right now."

Goemon does not argue.

Jigen sighed to himself in bed while Lupin cleaned around his room - he said it'd help him get better faster - and he clicks his tongue, fingers itching for a cigarette but the thief had only given him toothpicks to satiate the urge of needing a cigarette on hand. He can't be having a smoke when he was literally sick and was unable to breathe a day ago. The gunman, however, took note of how attentive Lupin was to everything that was happening to him - noting the temperature changes of his body and noting them down mentally, the attention to his hair whenever he was being washed and he was always somehow there at his side whenever he has a coughing fit. It was almost suffocating if Lupin wasn't so gentle about it. He found it amusing how gentle he was considering this was the same man who would pull bullets out of his arm and shoulder after a failed heist and the same man who practically could shoot the enemy dead if he wanted to.

Lupin had looked up at him when he notices that Jigen was staring into no specific spot in the room, and he quirks a brow at him.

"What's wrong, is dinner that bad tasting?" He lifts the spoonful of food near his noise to sniff, and Jigen only scoffs and crosses his arms over his chest.

"You're working too much again."

He blinked at Jigen that night, blinking for a few moments, and he chuckles and shakes his head, "This isn't _working_ , Jigen. You're too uptight, jeez! Relax a bit why don'tcha? I'm just taking care of my dearest friends, nothing's wrong with that."

Jigen took a moment to process what he said, and he only manages to chuckle, shaking his head. _Dearest friends, huh?_

"Nah, dinner tastes amazing."

* * *

Goemon was helping Lupin with the chores around the house - he cleaned and helped cook and he also helped feed whoever it was between Jigen and Fujiko that Lupin wasn't feeding. He was doing everything right and doing everything according to what Lupin tells him to, but the way his face turns red after he sneezes out of the blue and Lupin looks at him with a threatening stare.

"I'm not-"

The thief narrows his eyes at him, and he's forced to look away.

"Sit down, rest, take water and don't you try to move a _single_ finger, or I _will_ put you to bed too."

In the end, the samurai himself was also put to bed by Lupin. This was also around the time Jigen had fallen ill, and the thief was now carrying the weight of all the chores, cooking and making sure all his friends were comfortable, clean, happy and well fed and hydrated. He sighed to himself one morning about how he felt like past Lupin did a wonderful decision of asking Goemon to buy more medicine than they usually needed because now he had enough dosages for everyone who was in their room, sick and recovering.

There were small things about how Lupin was helping Goemon recover that the samurai could notice and not everyone could tell was a difference that made him feel better. Some of which were how he didn't fully tighten how he tied the _obi_ of his _yukata_ and how he found that his bedside always had green tea right next to the glass of water. Even Goemon was banned from using his _kiseru_ because like Jigen, Lupin said he cannot smoke as that would only make it harder to breathe. The slightest things, even the opening of the window whenever the weather was nice and not humid, and how he laughs a little whenever he's greeted by the wind blowing gently into the samurai's room.

He thinks he wants to keep Lupin smiling like that for as long as he needs him to be.

Goemon didn't want to be stuck to the bed, but Lupin had insisted, not just with him, but with everyone else too. He didn't like being sick, nor did he like being stuck to the bed the whole time because it was constraining and he hated it. He was pacified by the suggestion of meditating in bed, and for some reason, that actually did make him feel better. He looks to Lupin one night, feeling helpless and useless with how worn down he was starting to look, and Lupin puts a hand up before he even opens his mouth.

"Before you talk, think for moment yeah? I'm not a caretaker, nor am I a medical professional, but what I am is I'm your friend. I want to take care of you - doesn't matter if you can still do the most basic chores - that's not going to help you get better. Rest, will you? And don't worry about me, alright?"

Lupin grins at him, and Goemon can't help but just smile in return, leaning back into the pillows of his bed.

"Alright."

* * *

It's been almost a week now after Goemon got sick.

Fujiko is definitely better by now, and Jigen too. Goemon was already walking around before the week even ended, and the fact that Lupin wasn't around was what made the three of them uneasy. There was breakfast and coffee at the table in the living room, considerately covered to keep the flies off them, and water too. A note in the middle with an all too familiar doodle which already counted a signature was there too.

_To my dearest friends,_

_Eat without me, I'm just in my room if you need anything else._

_I hope you enjoy breakfast._

_Lupin III_

They looked at each other in quiet relief. Breakfast was not had just yet, and the three of them walk quietly through the hall, acting as if any creak from the floorboards would wake, or alert whoever it would be waiting from the inside of the thief's bedroom. Jigen places a hand on the doorknob, pausing before looking to Goemon and Fujiko, turning it slowly and pushing the door back.

The hinges creak quietly as the door swings inwards, Jigen peering into the room when he finds that the bed is empty. Stepping inside, the three of them notice this, but something else - Lupin was in the armchair not too far from the window, ashtray full and almost toppling over, in his undershirt and those striped boxers, legs over the armrest while he threatened to fall off the other.

He was snoring softly.

The three of them approach him, Fujiko bending a little to cup his head from behind, thumbing over his cheekbones and with no visible or physical reaction to her touch, Jigen presses his palm over his forehead. With bated breath, the other two wait for his judgment. They had opened his door to find him passed out, absolutely exhausted and unaware that all three of them were crowded in his room, just watching the rise and fall of his chest as he slept away.

"Is he okay?"

Jigen shakes his head, "He got sick too, but... yeah, he'll be okay."

Fujiko whines quietly, sighing and pouting a little, "I told him I could take care of myself, it was fine!"

"What if you stayed quiet right about now or you'll wake him up!"

Goemon was stuck to witness the forcibly hushed argument between Fujiko and Jigen before he places his hands on their shoulders.

"I think... it would be better if we just moved him to the bed and took care of him from there. He _did_ want us to feel better..."

The two look to each other in a wordless truce, and they nod to Goemon who moves closer to the snoozing thief, slipping his arms beneath him and picking him up easily without waking him. They peel back the blanket of his bed, and the samurai settles him into the soft cushion before Jigen pulls the sheet over him until his shoulders. They watch him and the subtle way he breathes while sleeping, leaving his bedside to let him rest - they'll come back eventually - to tend and take care of him the same way those calloused fingers brushed away the fringe that had matted itself onto their foreheads with their fevers high and place the damp towels over his warm skin the same way he did with theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> I word-walled about Lupin taking care of the gang after someone in a server i'm in brought up sick polycule and caretaker lupin, so. I hope you enjoyed my un-beta'd and un-proof'd sick fic for indulgence and fluff needs.


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